Philadelphia Eagles: Kelly nabs TE Ertz, DT Logan

PHILADELPHIA — Quarterbacks Geno Smith, Ryan Nassib and Matt Barkley were on the board Friday when Chip Kelly was on the clock for just his second draft pick with the Eagles.

Kelly quickly chose tight end Zach Ertz of Stanford, who caught the touchdown pass that sent the Cardinal’s game against Oregon into overtime, where Stanford won by a field goal. That was Kelly’s last loss.

“Unfortunately I know Zach personally,” said Kelly, who had Ertz rated a first-round talent. “He’s just an outstanding prospect. He’s a mismatch nightmare. If you get him isolated on a defensive back he’s very, very difficult to cover just because of his size. But he’s also too athletic to put a linebacker on him. Very smart player. Great route runner.”

Eagles quarterbacks Mike Vick and Nick Foles exhaled again, five picks later when Smith was drafted by the New York Jets.

It was a tough day for Smith. Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, of all people, came off the board one pick ahead of him.

“It’s just how the draft unfolds,” Kelly said of the quarterbacks. “I don’t think people go in and say, we need this, we need that. If people do that you get off schedule. You can’t force it.”

The Ertz pick wasn’t well received by at least one Eagle, center Jason Kelce. His brother, tight end Travis Kelce, didn’t come off the board until the start of the third round.

Kelce tweeted: “We just passed on the best TE in the draft, unfortunate... @tkelce”

Ertz exited Stanford a year early after a stellar season in which he emerged from the shadow of Coby Fleener, who had a standout rookie year with the Indianapolis Colts.

Ertz led the Cardinal with 69 receptions for 898 yards (13.0 average) and six touchdowns. He caught 11 passes for 106 yards and the TD against the Ducks. He and Kelly discussed it during their combine interview. Later Ertz sent Kelly a thank you note with the P.S.: “It was a catch.

“I think at the end of the day I just wanted to remind him what happened when we played against them and just to get the last laugh,” Ertz said.

Kelly said the 6-5, 249-pound Ertz would be part of a three-tight end rotation with Brent Celek and James Casey. Clay Harbor wasn’t mentioned.

“I know Coach Kelly is a great offensive mind and I think he’ll find a way to get myself and some of the other tight ends the ball,” Ertz said. “I know there are a lot of great skill position players on the team and I look forward to joining them.”

In the third round the Eagles chose defensive tackle Bennie Logan (6-2, 309) of LSU. Logan has long arms, big hands and can play anywhere on the defensive line. Kelly plans to use him inside.

Ertz was the coup. Like first round pick Lane Johnson, Kelly couldn’t stop raving about him.

“Really a guy that’s going to give us a lot of flexibility in terms of what we can do,” Kelly said. “I’ve always been a heavy tight end guy. We don’t play with a fullback we really use that second tight end. And now a third tight end. He’ll go in with Brent Celek and James Casey and add to the mix of what we can do and present a lot of problems for people.

“If you want to go big and put linebackers on the field we have pass mismatches for you. If you want to go small and put DBs on the field I think we’ve got a mismatch in the run game. It’s a great weapon. A great tool to have.”